Today has me thinking back to the 1994 NBA playoffs. I know, who isn’t right? See, in 1994, the 8th seeded Denver Nuggets, a team which started such future Hall of Famers as Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf and Bryant Stith, did the “impossible” and won a 5 game series against a number 1 seed, the (then) Seattle SuperSonics. As a ten year old, I had always thought that this was impossible. The SuperSonics had Gary Payton and Shawn Kemp. They had the word “super” in their name. When I was 10, I thought this was the biggest upset in the history of humankind.

What I realize now that I didn’t then is 1.) An 8 seed can match up well against a 1 seed (see Golden State toppling the Dallas Mavericks in 2007) and 2.) Sometimes, the team with the number 1 seed isn’t necessarily the best team. And that brings us back to today or more accurately, Wednesday night.

Wednesday, the Washington Capitals shocked 10 year old Jason, but just frustrated 25 year old Jason. After finishing the NHL’s regular season with the league’s best record, the Capitals entered the NHL playoffs with a series against a mediocre-at-best Montreal Canadiens team that they matched up fairly well against. After four games, the Caps were up 3-1. Then, they decided to play boring, uninspired, flat hockey for three games. You can’t do that in the NHL playoffs. There’s plenty of recent evidence to support this (See: San Jose Sharks). The Capitals just became the most recent piece of evidence, after losing Game 7 to the Canadiens 2-1.

Three years ago, the Capitals fired their coach “Guy No One Remembers” amid a terrible start to the season and promoted the coach of one of their minor league affiliates (the Hershey Bears) to the big time. The team caught fire after the promotion of Bruce Bourdreau and wound up winning their division. Of course, they were a little too young and lost to a better Philadelphia Flyers club in 7 games, losing Game 7 at home.

Last year, the Capitals finished with the second best record in the Eastern Conference and entered the playoffs matched up against an underachieving New York Rangers team that they should have defeated in 5 games. Instead, they were outplayed by the Rangers and barely won the series, again in 7 games. That set them up for a Conference Semi-Final matchup with their rivals, the Pittsburgh Penguins. The Caps squandered an early two game series lead and found themselves in another Game 7, only this time, they didn’t show up for the game (in fact, the 2008-09 Washington Capitals may still be lost on their way into the Verizon Center to play Game 7 against the Penguins) and got housed 6-2.

This season was going to be different. The Capitals absolutely obliterated the competition in the regular season, winning the President’s Trophy (best record) and finding themselves in an easy first round matchup with the Montreal Canadiens, who they would go on to lose to. In seven games. Again. Seven games. Here’s the problem:

People in this town lack the true, stupid passion that people in New York, Boston, and Philadelphia have for their teams. Something happens when you get below the Mason-Dixon line when it comes to sports. The further south you travel, the less and and less people care about their teams, reaching the utmost depths in Miami, where the locals couldn’t be bothered to support any of their 4 professional sports teams. Last night, as the Capitals left the ice after shaking hands with the Canadiens, the fans who stayed, stood on their feet and applauded. Could you imagine if the Philadelphia Flyers finished the regular season with the best record, and then choked away a first round matchup against a team they matched up favorably with? There would be no ovation. NO ONE WOULD CLAP! The same holds true for Boston and New York. When success is expected, you do not encourage failure. And this was monumental, epic failure. On a scale much larger than the Seattle SuperSonics in 1994. This was a collapse.

My opinion is that heads need to roll in Washington in the coming weeks. Bruce Boudreau, the Capitals coach who may have saved their season in 2007-08, needs to be fired in 2010. The NHL is a results orientated league. And under Boudreau, the results have not been good by any true measure of success. The Capitals have a roster littered with talent and an owner who is more than willing to spend money even in a league full of owners who, when the check comes at dinner, head to the lavatory. Let it be known that Bruce Boudreau has accomplished nothing of note in his time in Washington. The folks who have lived here their entire lives and know the history of the Washington Capitals will tell me that he might be the most successful coach in the team’s history. And you know what, he may very well be. But that does not, should not, and hopefully will not excuse the fact that his teams have fallen short, far too early, each of the last three years.

Of course, the players are responsible too. The Capitals have an interesting salary issue coming up. They are currently paying Mike Green, the most overrated “defenseman” in the NHL, $5.25 million until the end of the 2012 season. Their captain, Alex Ovechkin, makes $9.5 million until the end of his life, essentially. Alexander Semin will make $6 million next season and then become a restricted free agent. Combining the numbers of Ovechkin, Green, and Semin, you have almost $21 million, or more than 1/3 of the NHL salary cap. The Caps were $3 million over the cap this year. Owner Ted Leonsis cannot be forced to pay the luxury tax on a team that gets eliminated in the first round of the playoffs.

The salary situation gets interesting with Nicklas Backstrom. Backstrom, who is without a doubt in my mind the most vital member of this team (yes, more than Ovechkin), is an RFA as of the end of the season. Backstrom made only $2.4 million this season and frankly, should be making close to Ovechkin money. But the Capitals cannot afford to give him Ovechkin money, or Semin money, or Green money, in my opinion (unless they want to field a one-line short handed team). To me, the odd man out has to be Semin first. He adds nothing to the Capitals that they don’t already have. Semin scored 40 goals this season. The Capitals led the league in goals scored, with 45 more than the second place team, the Vancouver Canucks. Semin is also a defensive liability and as tough a hockey player as OJ Simpson is an “understanding human being.” And he’s an RFA after next season. I would love to see him traded for a high (1st or 2nd round) draft pick or a blue-collar, hard nosed defenseman who is more focused on stopping goals than scoring them.

That’s where Mike Green comes in. Green was a +39 during the regular season, which is a great number for any defenseman. However, you have to take into account that he plays on the highest scoring team in the league. With two of the top 4 scorers (in terms of points) in the league. And Green scored 19 goals this season. That +39 doesn’t look as pretty now. And it doesn’t look as pretty when you watch him regularly. Last night, Green cost his team a goal on Montreal’s first when he took an unnecessary cross-checking penalty. On Montreal’s second goal, Green found himself overplaying one man on a 2-on-1. He fell out of the play and Montreal went ahead 2-0. This is the kind of thing that happens regularly in Washington. But the fans love Mike Green. Because he scores goals. Sure, he’s not tough, doesn’t fight, turns away from contact, constantly carries the puck in the offensive zone, gets caught out of position defensively, and exhibits zero on-ice leadership, and presumably, none in the locker room, because frankly, when was the last time you heard the words “Mike Green” and “leader” in the same sentence, but he scores goals and has a faux-hawk, so let’s give him the Jack Norris trophy? I would love to see Green moved this offseason as well.

Most will say that I’m being too reactionary. I’d prefer to call it proactivity, if that were an actual English word. Complacency has never made anyone better. The Washington Capitals have shown in the past 3 seasons, an ability to improve their regular seasons, and the disability of constant playoff failure. Some drunk moron on the train the other night, leaving a Nationals game, started yelling about how the “Caps own this league (the NHL).” I laughed at him and said, (paraphrase), “You can take your REGULAR season sweep of the Penguins, they’ll take their Stanley Cup.” I want the Capitals to succeed. Wednesday’s loss angered me incredibly. I love the team, but I don’t love this team, as a group of players. They might give trophies for great regular seasons and they might hang banners for division titles (even if that division is the weakest in professional sports), but those things don’t deserve a parade down Pennsylvania Avenue and up Seventh Street. This town needs a parade. The Capitals are the closest to bringing one here, but they’re still much too far away.